Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are emerging contaminants:Review and awareness

Abstract

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances(PFAS) have been a popular topic in the past few years. They are a category of “emerging contaminants'' because PFAS have been detected in the environment through environmental, industrial, and infrastructural sources and causes health problems. Some sources of PFAS exposure include drinking contaminated municipal water or private well water, eating food grown in places that used or made PFAS, eating fish caught from water contaminated by PFAS, etc. In addition, they have been also found in some products like fast food containers/wrappers, microwave popcorn bags, pizza boxes, cleaning products, personal care products (shampoo, dental floss) and cosmetics (nail polish, eye makeup), etc. These chemicals move fromcontaminated to non-contaminatedareas since they don’t break down. This leads to contamination of water and food that we eat which causes many health effects. According to many research articles, PFAS are linked to many health issues that could affect the immune function, thyroid function, liver disease, cancer, reproductive and developmental outcomes, etc. To avoid these health problems, we need to minimize PFAS by reducing the use of products that have PFAS in them, limiting levels of PFAS in drinking water, protecting our health after being in or around lakes and streams, and practicing safe gardening habits to lower the chance of exposing ourselves to PFAS.